Twelve Sharp
by Ivette Boveda
Summary: Companion piece to The Runaway.You don't really need to Read Runaway to understand this story. Last Chapter Now up! Thank you for your patience!
1. Chapter 1

_a/n- Chapters 1-7 were written quite a while before Larry announced he was going on a space shuttle, and Millie came into the picture._

I kept looking at my watch. Mr. Boveda was due to arrive pretty soon.Since I was now a private investigator as a result of losing an eye during a raid gone bad, there was no way to turn him down eventhough he wanted to see me because someone had painted weird symbols on his beamer.

"Let me know when Mr. Boveda gets here" I told my assistant, Frank. He was a freshman in one of my brother's classes and interested in getting into law enforcement. I hired him because he was good with computers and I needed someone to answer the phones when I was doing fieldwork.

He asked me, "Do you follow Mrs. Pert last night?"

"Yeah I did."

"I could have gone" He protested. Damn this kid was whiny.His brown eyes gave me a reproving look. They were highlighted by his wrinkled brown shirt. Hasn't he heard of something called an iron?

"I had to follow her into a bar" I told him, but added. "You can write the report for me."

"Write the report?" he repeated without much enthusiasm.

"If you wanna get into law enforcement, you're gonna have to learn how to turn facts, and notes into a coherent, informative report." I told him. It felt good to delegate again. I put the various materials on his desk. "I'll need it by tomorrow morning. Mr. Pert is coming at one"

Groaning, he got to work and I went into my office.

Sighing, I sat on the nice leather chair, straighted stuff on my cherrwood desk and looked out at the cityscape. Charlie, along with leasing the space for me, got nice furniture for my office, as a surprise, in the hopes of attracting better cases. Not only did the space have an office for me, there was also an area for a receptionist, not to mention a light colored desk.. Before I knew it, Frank knocked.

"He's here?" I asked in a whisper.

"Yeah." he nodded.

"Let him in."

Mr. Boveda soon came in, and I got up to shake his hand. He had salt and pepper hair, a graying mustache, and a firm handshake.

"How are you? What can I do?"

"As I said on the phone, I need you to find out who vandalized my car. The police were useless!" he took out some photos from a mahogany brown briefcase. "I took my own pictures when the police left."

Carefully, I studied the pictures. Somebody had used regular, not spray paint to draw various odd symbols on the man's car, which was a beamer.

"When did you find your car in this condition?" I asked.

"I saw the damage after my wife and I left the retirement party of a friend of ours. The parking lot was deserted. According to the police, there are no security cameras there."

"Do you know of anyone who would want to do this?" Maybe this guy had enemies?

"I'm an eye doctor...but I haven't had any problems with patients that I can remember"

"How about your wife?"

"She's a teacher, but at a private school, Flintridge Preparatory" he relaxed into the chair.

"Vandalism goes across various boundaries, Mr. Boveda" I said seriously.

"Her students love her!"

"She hasn't mentioned any giving her trouble?"

"No..."

"I'll need to study these, and check with my resources" I told him, knowing that Cal Sci would be my next stop.

"Vincent said you were in the F.B.I" he nodded with understanding.

"You mean Vincent Fullerton?" I asked. Elizabeth, last time I heard, was going to a boarding school in Boston. Her father worried about the cult getting its claws on her again. So he sent her a mere two months ago.

"We've got mutual friends" he said.

"I see..."

"How long do you need to figure out what these symbols mean?" he asked.

"I'll have a report ready in a week?" I suggested with a shrug.

"Five days? Same time?"

"Okay.." I agreed.

After sorting out what my daily fee would be, he wrote a check that covered the next five days. With that, he left, and soon I was on my way to Cal Sci

"I'm going to see Professor Eppes" I told Frank. " I need that report by nine tomorrow at the latest, so I can check it"

"Yes Don"

I drove to see my brother. It felt good to go see him about work, just like old times, even if it involved some young thugs rather than a hard core criminal.

"Hey Don!" Charlie smiled when he saw me holding pictures. "Need help?"

"Yeah...I'll give you half of my retainer?"

"Don't worry about it man!" he insisted, and got the photos from me. Charlie looked at them with a puzzled face.

"My clients wants to find out who vandalized his beamer" I said. "I was hopin' maybe you'd recognize the symbols or decode them?" I shrugged.

"None of them are symbols used in math, if that's what you mean...as for some code, I'd need to study them in greater detail."

My brother began to copy the symbols onto the black board.

"I really appreciate this, buddy..."

"Is this related to some other crime?" my brother stopped writing.

"No..." I shook my head. "My client found his car in that condition, and came to me"

"Oh..." he sounded disappointed.

Just then, Larry joined us.

"What's all this?" he asked.

"I'm helping Don with a case." Charlie said. "Some symbols were painted on his client's car, and I'm trying to see if they mean something."

"hmmmmm" Larry put his finger on his mouth and turned to me. "Perhaps your client is part of some secret society?" He shrugged.

"Larry...please.." Charlie rolled his eyes and whispered to me "Don't even get him started on what he thinks of the Freemasons.

"If he were, why come to me?" I pointed out diplomatically.

"Maybe it's only the culprit who's a member?" Larry remarked and came closer to the board.He then began a diatribe about secret societies, their history and what he thought of them. Mercifully, Frank called me.

"Mrs. Sims is waiting for you"

I took a deep breath.

"Did you tell her that I was doing field work?"

"Yeah, but she insists on waiting for you." he said.

With a sigh I said, "Tell her I'll be right there." I didn't like to keep a client waiting if I could avoid it. Besides, there wasn't much I could do until my brother could figure out what those symbols meant. My gut told me that was the best angle I had. So, I said goodbye to Larry and Charlie, and left.

Mrs Sims was a petite, Beverly Hills wife, who was very suspicious of everyone.Her jade green eyes looked wary all the time, while the rest of her botoxed face looked stiff, as did her styled, platinum blonde hair..When she didn't suspect her husband, a plastic surgeon, she made accusations against her staff that ranged from theft to sleeping with her husband. How she found time to be paranoid in between shopping sprees, I don't know. Unfortunatly if I were to tell her that she was wasting her time, the woman would just go to an unscrupoulous PI, who would charge her more and string her along.

Reluctanty, I dealt with her. Finally, after a while, she left.

"So...did you see Professor Eppes about the Boveda case?" Frank asked me when the client left.

"Yeah..." I then explained why.

"I'm no profiler , but why would a tagger bother to write some elaborate code? Besides, how do you know it's not some gang sig?" He stood at the doorway to my office.

I gently explained why and how I figured it wasn't a gang related incident. Suddenly, his face brightened.

"Maybe I could do a background check on Mr. Boveda?" he loved using the databases I subscribed and had access to. More than once, I've told him not to use to to check out friends and teachers. "Maybe there's stuff he didn't tell you?"

"Those databases aren't' toys, Frank" I told him firmly. "Until I've got reason to, I'm not gonna dig into Mr. Boveda's history."

"Okay" he looked like a child, whose parents had taken away his favorite toy with his lips in a frown, and his eyes downcast.

"How's the report coming?" I asked to change the subject.

"Good..."

A few minutes later, I got a call from my girlfriend, Josephine. She ran a funeral home with her older brother. Their father, who started the business, had died a couple of years ago.

"How's work? " she asked.

"The client with the vandalized beamer came in" I told her. "Turns out someone put weird symbols on his car. I'm having Charlie study the photos."

"So you're subcontracting?" she teased. Joey had a great, though sometimes odd sense of humor.

"Ha ha..." I rolled my eyes ."How are you?"

"We just did a wake for a porn star, and the eulogies freaked my mother out." she said. "Let's just say that they got a little too detailed."

"Really?" I chuckled a little.

"yeah...Will you be working late?"

"I dunno" I told her.

"Maybe we could get together for dinner?"

"Sure..."

There was a pause, with background talking, and she told me. "I'll call you back later, I've got someone who wants to buy a coffin, for himself"

"A friend of my dad did that so that his kids wouldn't be burdened."

"The guy wants it to be delivered to his apartment..." she added.

"Maybe he wants to fill it with ice and beer, for games" I joked. We both hung up after affectionate goodbyes and laughter..

My injury and my new business had put me out of the dating game for quite a while. Then, I met Joey at the dry cleaners a couple of months ago. She had been picking up some suits for her brother. We both clicked, when I told her I used to be in the F.B.I and she then mentioned her occupation. She showed true compassion in talking about her work.

"Don?" Frank interrupted my thoughts.

He whispered "Your sugar mama's here"

"You mean Ms. Donovan?" I gave him an annoyed look. She was a rich, red headed widowed, businesswoman, a few years older than me, who was a frequent client.

"She's holding a box. Must be another 'thank you' present." he beamed and gave me that 'congrats dude!' smile he always did whenever she came by.

"Believe me, this is very awkward" I warned him.

"Why? You're a civilian now. I'd love to have some pretty woman give me cool presents!"

"Have her come in" I said, making a point to ignore his comments.

"If you don't want the present, can I have it?"

"No" I told him firmly.

He pouted and led her in.

I put on my best smile, thanked her for the present, and got her to leave on the pretext of my going to meet with my dad. She was, as always a little blunt and over bearing, telling me that the watch I had on was 'too dingy and old' and the one she got me was 'stylish, trendy, and a good match' for me. When she left, Frank suggested

"You could regift the watch and give it to Professor Eppes or your father."

I got annoyed. "Come on! Go Finish that report"

"Okay..." he left my office sheepishly.

Good help is so hard to find.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Unfortunately, work kept Joey from joining me for dinner, but she did come over to the house two nights later.

"Any luck with figuring out who vandalized the car?" she asked as we sat in the living room, waiting for dinner to be ready. Charlie sat in the dining room, having barely said hi to Josephine, because he worked intensly.

"If it's a code, it's unlike one Charlie has ever seen" I replied, remembering my frustration. We sat together on the large couch, drinking beer. She subconsciously put strands of brown hair behind her ears. It was nice to see her hair loose. Usually, because of her work, she had it in a bun, when prepping bodies, or in some tight hairstyle, when dealing with grieving family. Her green-brown eyes focused on me as she seemed to sit in thought.

"What if it's a made up language?" she suggested. "Like Elfish or Klingon?"

"It's the made up language of some secret society?" I joked with a grin and she laughed.

"My Dad always made jokes whenever he had to prep a Freemason" she said wistfully, with her face eyes drooping. I put my arm around her. I understood what she went through, as I still missed and thought about mom. She would have liked Josephine.

"Want another beer?" I offered.

"Sure" she kissed me and I got up.

"Ask her if she would like a snack" Dad suggested. He stirred a pot and wore a shirt that said 'Leprechauns made me do it'. Eva had bought it for him, when she went to some conference in Ireland. I noticed that his hair looked suspiciously less gray.

"She's just wants a beer, Dad" I assured him, as I opened the refrigerator.

"Says the man who took a date to the Laundromat" Dad sighed.

"Dad..." I groaned, got the two bottles out, and looked for the opener.

"Where is it?"

"Try that other drawer" Dad pointed to it. "Your brother keeps forgetting where things go"

I opened the beer bottles, and returned to the living room.

Finally, after she and I finished our second beers, Dad announced "Dinner's ready!"

Happily, I sat at the table, next to Josephine.

"So uh...it's been a while since your first visit" Dad gave her a platter.

"Just a month" I gently reminded him.

"Yeah..." she got the platter, served herself, and gave it to me."Any luck with decoding those symbols, Charlie?"

"Not really." My brother said apologetically. "There aren't a lot of symbols to work with."

"So uh...do you like working with your, brother, Joey?" Dad asked. "My boys certainly enjoy collaborating."

"For the most part, I do. We complement each other. I'm better at the business side, while he is a master artist. Our employee is no slouch either, but my brother can restore anyone no matter...uh….what happened to them." I'd seen her deal with grieving families, treating them as human beings, not as money trees to be picked.

"She computerized the bookkeeping" I added.

"It must be nice to be able to frankly discuss your work with someone" Dad said. Guess he remembered the conversation we had about that subject, when I was still in the bureau.

"Yeah it is. Anything I see, Don's seen it too." She smiled.

"I was thinking..." Dad began. "Maybe you and Don can join me and Eva for an evening? It could be a sort of double date"

"Sure...!" she replied but the smile seemed small. I didn't blame her. I'd be uncomfortable having a double date with her widowed mother, and some guy.

"I'll talk to Eva, to see when a good time is for her." Dad promised.

"Great!" she said.

---------------------------------------------------

Later that evening, Joey and I went to her place. Before I knew it, morning came and I was being nagged.

"Don! It's already seven thirty!"

"Hummmmmph"

"I forgot to put on my alarm and now we're both running late!" she continued and pulled the sheet out.

"Don't!" I groaned .It was cold!

"Come now...it's a little late for modesty isn't it?" she teased, but got serious. "You gotta shower!"

Eventually, and reluctantly, I went into the shower. Thankfully it was warm. A cold draft came in when Joey opened the stall door.

"Bye!" She blew me a kiss, as she had already dressed in a dark navy blue business outfit. Her hair was already tied, and makeup was on.

Thankfully, I had clean clothes at her place, and I changed into some.

When I arrived, Frank was waiting outside the door for me. I had yet to trust him with a key.

" morning...Traffic got bad" I told him and let us both in.

"Morning!"

Half an hour later, he came into my office.

"You've got a new client. Her name is Bianca Townsend." He said,

"Let her in."

"Okay" he got out and Ms. Townsend came in, with an envelope in her hand. She wore a black pantsuit, and her milk chocolate hair had red-brown highlights. Firmly, as if in a business meeting, she sat down on a guest chair, noticed the view, and began.

"Someone vandalized my car" She took out some photos. "And the police dismissed it as some prank performed by kids. I want you to find whoever did this, and get enough evidence to get them in jail!"

I studied the photos, carefully, and to my surprise, there were symbols, just like in the case of Mr. Boveda! Could there be a connection between these two? Looks like Frank was about to get his wish.

"When did you find your car in this condition?" I looked up and asked.

" After a business dinner" she said.

"No one saw anything ?"

"Nope..." she shook her head. "A friend of mine used your services once, and was very happy with your work. I was hoping you could get farther than the cops did."

"Do you know of anyone who...?"

"No...!" she interupted me, impatiently. People hated to be asked things more than once, but it's not like I can go ask for the police report, and I needed to ask for myself.

"I'm going to need a few days to study these, and check with my sources." I assured her.

"I'll see you in six days to check your progress?" she suggested.

"Sure" I agreed. Soon, she wrote me a check and left her business card.

When she left, I gave Frank the information and told him

"Does a background check on them, print out everything there is, and put it all on my desk"

"Okay Don!" he beamed .

"I'm going to see Professor Eppes." I announced and left with the photos in my hand.

------------------------

"Hey Charlie!" I said to my brother when I entered his office. "Remember when you said you wanted more data? I've got it, buddy!"

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Charlie got the photos from me. "Another victim?"

" Yep. I'm having Frank get information on the two victims."

My brother talked about having to do some sort of analysis to see if the two cars were vandalized by the same perp. My gut told me that they were, and I gave my brother the second set of photos.

"I'll need whatever information you've got on the victims." Charlie said.

"I'll go get it and xerox here"

"okay"

Quickly, I went back to my office.

"What did you find?" I asked Frank.

"There are no records of either of them existing" he said with a stone face.

I demanded "What are you talking about?"

"Just kidding." he laughed and I rolled my eyes. "Everything I've gotten so far is on your desk."

"Thanks..." I was about to go into my office, when he continued to talk.

"Maybe you should ask one of your friends at the Bureau about getting their sealed juvie records?" he suggested.

"How is that supposed to help? They're not even the same age." I pointed out.

"Oh yeah..."

"Just keep Digging,"

"Okay..."

I got what Frank had so far, Xeroxed it, gave the copies to Charlie, and returned to my office to study them more closely.

So far, I didn't see anything useful. I went to see Frank. He was focused on the task at hand.

"Anything else?"

"Just this stuff" He handed it to me. "And what's gonna come out of the printer."

"Good Thanks" I got the stuff and returned to my office.

A few minutes later, Frank interrupted my reading.

"I was just thinking'" He began. "Why don't you have them come to your office at the same time? That way you can see how they react. Maybe that'll give you a clue?"

"That's not the way it works" I told him flatly, and resisted the temptation to roll my eyes.

"What if they were jury members in the same case?" he asked.

"Go attend to the phone" I requested.

"Okay..." he left the office, disappointed that I wasn't impressed by all the knowledge he had gained by watching the various CSI and Law and Order incarnations.

Sometime later, Joey came in, bringing me lunch.

"Hey..." she said and we kissed."It's a slow day, so I thought I'd bring you something to eat. How's the case going?" Joey put the bag on my desk.

"It's going" I opened it. To my delight, it was a steak sandwich. Biting into it, I realized that there was lots of mayo, lettuce and tomato. Just the way I like it. "There's been another victim"

"You're doing Background checks on the victims?" she saw some of the paperwork.

"I'm hoping to find a connection."

"Any luck?"

"Not really" I said with my mouth full.

"Seems like you've got as much access to stuff like you did as an agent"

"Trust me, as an agent I was able to get a lot more" I said, somewhat wistfully.

"It must be hard, going from money launderers and serial killers, to cheaters and vandals." She mused sympathetically.

"I'm hoping to build my practice and get better cases."

"With this office, you should" she smiled.

"No...Clients today?" I asked.

"We had one person who wanted a small expensive casket. It was going relatively well until I realized that the one who had passed away was a cat! Naturally, I sent her to a pet mortuary."

"Why not go to a taxidermist?" I joked.

She laughed and shrugged.

Too soon, she got a call to do a pickup.

'Why don't' you come with?" she suggested. "Maybe taking a break will clear your mind?"

"I dunno..."

"It's not like you have to find a serial killer, Don. Besides, maybe later Charlie will have something more for you to work with?" she smiled and gave me that pouting look. "I could use the company.

"Okay...sure..." Why not?

So, I gave Frank some instructions. Soon, Joey and I were on our way to the city morgue. I had done a pick up or two with her before and it had taken me very little time to readjust to being around dead bodies and their associated smells. I even visited her at the mortuary, and have met her mother, who invited me to dinner, her brother, and her nephews. The family home was upstairs, while the business stood at the ground floor. It had been a rather odd experience, as aside from having Charlie help me on cases, and dating a fellow agent, I'd never mixed my professional and personal lives to such an extent. Dad and mom never really did that either except for maybe brining home work.

"Who's our passenger?" I asked.

"Gloria Pan, household accident" she told me.

99999999999999999999999

At the morgue, the orderly warned us after the paperwork was filled out, "This one's got major electrical burns!"

"I'll let my brother deal with those" she whispered in my ear.

Just as I finished helping him and Joey load the body into the hearse, Charlie called.

"I've got something" he said.

"That's great buddy!" I got into the vehicle and soon it was moving.

"Where are you?"

"I'm doing a pickup with Joey."

"A pickup?" he sounded uncomfortable, and even, annoyed? His voice was even. "It's just that I'm at your office. Frank says that you left the office with Joey."

"I needed to clear my head. What have you got?"

"I did a wavelength analysis. The same person vandalized both cars." he explained.

"Anything else?"

"I'm checking to see if there are other victims besides them, and if there is a pattern. I came to your office to see if you had anymore information on the victims, and to give you what I had so far on others who had their cars marked in a similar fashion. The data is being run through a program as we speak."

"Thanks Buddy! I'll return as soon as I can!" I had almost forgotten that Charlie still had access to that kind of stuff.

"Why don't I pick you up? I mean..Joey is uhh...gonna be busy right?"

"It's okay buddy" I worried about how going to the mortuary would affect him. "I'll find a way to get back."

After some arguing, Charlie won out. When we hung up, after I gave him directions Joey asked.

"He got something?"

"yeah...he's gonna pick me up." I replied.

Charlie was already there when we arrived in. Traffic had delayed Joey and me quite a bit. As soon as I could, I hopped into the car. Charlie didn't look very comfortable and I wanted to leave as soon as possible for his sake. He made faces, looked around and sighed.

"How many other victims are we talkin' ?" I asked as we drove off.

"Three"

"OH..." I thought it was in the dozens. "Any pattern?"

"Well, no one had been arrested for any of them and in the police reports, the descriptions are similar. I'm also in the process of studying the crime scene photos."

"Any escalation?"

"Not really" he remarked. "I got you copies of the polices reports"

"Thanks Buddy"

On the way to my office, he talked about the technical and mathematical aspects of what he was doing.

When we arrived, Frank said.

"A potential client called. I told him that you were doing field work"

"What did he want.?" I asked.

"He's worried that his ex wife is dating a criminal, but needs evidence to make sure and sue for sole custody of his kids if he needs to."

"I'll uh….talk to him" Dealing with battling exes wasn't easy, especially when it involved kids.

"His name and number are on your desk."

"Thanks"

Charlie and I went into my office.

"What now?" he asked.

"I'm gonna read the reports and talk to the other victims." I told him.

Charlie began to say something, but Frank burst in.

"You've got a pissed off client!" he whispered.

Sometimes, working the private sector can be a pain in the ass.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

"I'll uh...get back to work" Charlie lamely got up from the visitor's chair.

"Thanks again, buddy!" I told Charlie, and instructed Frank "Tell the client it'll only be a minute or two"

"Okay"

Charlie excused himself, and I quickly straightened my desk. Before I knew it, there was an angry woman, lap dog in tow, glaring at me with icy gray eyes, scrunched up over plucked eyebrows, and a collagen filled frown. The case soon came back to me. .

"What can I do for you, Ms. Hanover?"

"I hired you to make sure that my dog nanny was doing everything on the list. Remember?" She began over the whining of a shivering brown coated pug inside the dog purse. "Just yesterday, I went to the vet, and found out that Gussy put on some weight" .My old boss on a bad day, had never been half the pain in the ass as Ms. Hanover was.

I began calmly. ."Photographic evidence suggested that she took your dog for his walks, went to the grooming salon, and attended all the play dates you scheduled...Did the vet say why Gussy gained weight?"

Before she could come up with a snooty or nasty answer, her cell rang. After some exclamations, the woman hung up and said

"I have to go, but I will return, don't you worry" In a huff, she left . The dog whimpered.

A bit after she left, Frank asked.

"Was that the lady who wanted you to tail her dog nanny?"

"Yeah..." I said.

He straightened his glasses. "You get the weirdest clients."

"Takes all kinds" I shrugged.

"Could I help you go through those files? I could read them at my desk?" he suggested.

"Actually, I need you to do more background checks for some other victims."

"I thought you already had stuff?" he didn't' sound too happy about having to do more background checks. Frank really needs to learn that investigation isn't all about fieldwork.

"Just police reports" I pointed out.

"Okay"

Soon, I gave him a list, but then he asked me

"Are you gonna interview the vics?"

"Maybe..." I answered casually, and knew full well what was coming.

"Can I come?"

"Who's gonna answer the phone huh?" I asked. That was one of the main reasons I hired him.

"I wanna see a real witness interview." he said. "Can I tag along for just one? I'll go in my own car and won't say a word!"

"Tend the phones..." I ordered.

Just then, Dad came in

"Hey!What's up?" I greeted him.

"I got you a client." Dad said with a large grin. He wore a business suit.

"Thanks! Who?"

"Here's the name and number." Dad unfolded a piece of paper, and gave it to me.

"Great!"

"I was also wondering if you wanted to have lunch with your old man?"

"Joey already brought me a sandwich" I said gently. "Sorry Dad."

Dad grinned from ear to ear, as if he was thinking about making PBJ sandwiches for grandkids.. "Don't worry about it."

"Why don't you come into my office?" I offered. "You can see some of the bigger construction projects being done from my window." I knew that my Dad was into that kinda stuff.

"Sure" Dad walked in with me, and I pointed out the cranes and stuff.

"Charlie really knows how to shop for real estate. Lots of people would kill for this view" Dad remarked.

"Yeah"

"Why don't you let Frank go with you?" he asked. "You investigating a vandalism, after all. That's one of the reasons he took the job; to learn."

"Dad…." I began..

"Just think about it." He looked at his watch. "Look, I've got a meeting in forty five minutes. I really should go." We said our goodbyes and then he left.

After some thinking, I reluctantly and firmly told Frank "You can come with me to one interview, but after that, you're staying here to answer the phone"

"Okay..." he happily looked up from his work, like a kid about to spend the night at a toy store.

"Got anything?"

"I finished two of the background checks." the kid said

"Let's go see one of them together. Which ones have you got?"

"One of them is from some guy who lives in Pomona." he handed me the information. "And the other is a woman in Huntington Park."

We went in our own cars to see the guy in Pomona, as it was rather far from Huntington Park.

"Okay, listen. Don't ask anything, okay? Just observe" I warned him.

Soon, I was knocking at the door.

"Who is it?" someone asked after opening the door oh so slightly.

"Don Eppes. I'm a Private Investigator." I began, and flashed my PI License. "This is my assistant, Frank. We'd like to talk to you about the vandalism of your car"

"Why?"

"Other people got their cars marked in a similar way, and we think that the same perp did them all." Frank said before I could say a better worded answer. I glared at him.

"Really now?"

"Yeah" Frank continued to put his foot in it. This is why I didn't wanna bring him along.

Reluctantly, the man let us in. The house was neat, and full of books, antiques and nice furniture.

"Have a seat" He pointed to the couch. "Would you two like something to drink?"

"A soda, please" Frank requested.

"I'll be right back." our host promised, and went to the kitchen.

My cell began to vibrate, and I answered it.

"Don?" I recognized my brother's excited voice. I had a feeling that he had good news.

"Hey Buddy!"

" I've decoded the symbols!"

TBC

**a/n: I changed it so that Don and Joey have been going out for longer than three months.**


	5. Chapter 5

"What do they mean?" I asked.

Charlie began a long winded mathematical explanation that had to do with codes and other stuff.

"Come on!" I groaned impatiently. Sometimes, my brother needed prodding to get to the point. "What do the symbols say?" That's all I cared about.

"Gibberish"

"Gibberish?" I repeated in disbelief and aggravation.

"yeah...take Mr. Boveda's car. It says 'pig fish bait mutter...among other things. There are no coherent thoughts!"

"Maybe that's another layer code or something! Keep at it" I told my brother stubbornly.

"Okay..." Charlie sounded reluctant. "I'll work on it some more." We said our goodbyes and hung up.

I asked the host a few more questions. Soon, me and Frank left the house. As soon as we were far enough away, I had a talk with him.

"I thought you were just gonna listen!" I said sternly, leaning on my car and remembering why I had been reluctant to let him come with me. At least Charlie, when he came with me to see witnesses, stuck to what he knew.

"It felt right ...to ask..." he said lamely.

"If you ever fail to follow my instructions again, it's gonna 'feel right' to fire you, understood?" I warned him.

"Okay..." he nodded sheepishly.

"Let's go back to the office."

The next day, I met again with Mr. Boveda, and carefully got him up to date on my progress. He seemed satisfied enough to give me enough money for six more days. I again studied the photos I had, and did a lot of thinking. Sadly, I made no progress. Before I knew it, Frank had been gone for a while, and Joey brought me dinner. To my delight, I noticed that it was contained in a pizza box.

"I hope you like pepperoni and sausage pizza" she gave me that wicked smile of hers and kissed me.

"you bet!"

"I also brought beer"

"yeah?" I smiled. Joey was very thoughtful.

"Burning the midnight oil again?" she put the box down and took out paper plates from a drawer.

"The vandalism case...it's going nowhere" I sighed. We ate at my desk. Joey used a visitor's chair.

"Sorry to hear that" she opened the box and got herself a slice. I did the same. The pizza tasted great; the pepperoni and sausage were as greasy as I preferred them to be.

Dad called when I got to my second slice.

"Donnie! Are ya coming home for dinner?" Typical Dad. I could be a hundred years old and he would worry about my eating enough.

"Sorry Dad, Joey brought me pizza." I told him.

"It's fine!" he said happily; it was as if her bringing me pizza was a step closer to getting him the grandchildren that he so wanted. "Tell her I said hi, and that she can come visit anytime!"

"Sure Dad..."

"I'll save ya a plate" he promised and soon the conversation ended.

Joey and I were interrupted again by some guy. He looked to be a little older than Frank, though without the glasses, and lighter hair.

"Don Eppes I presume?" he did that lame joke, while standing at the doorway. Guess he saw the main door unlocked and let himself in.

"Who's asking?" I countered.

"I'm John Patter...from the..."

"You're a reporter right?" I asked with a sigh, That was another thing I didn't miss about my old job: dealing with reporters.

"I heard that you were hired to investigate the mysterious vandalisms?"

"I'm not at liberty to talk about my cases." I said. Was it me or were cub reporters looking younger? Charlie would say it was because I was getting older.

"Maybe getting this story out could get more victims out of the woodwork and help you solve the crime?" he suggested If I had a dime for every time I heard that…I'd be a millionaire. "And maybe even get you publicity?"

"Maybe you should quit badgering him and stick to writing the obituaries" Joey said, tongue in cheek.

"Could this be the work of a cult?" he persisted.

"I've got a few suspects." I told him. "It's too early to speculate"

Before the argument could go any further, I got a call from Frank.

"Don! Please save me!"

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

I asked, in my calmest voice "What's going on?"

"I need your help!" his voice got agitated. "Please come pick me up!"

"Where are you?" I asked gently. Was he high on something?

he started to talk fast and put his words together"Atacomedyclub"

"Which one?" I could tell the reporter was dying of curiousity.

"The com'dy 'tore.." he said. "Justcome!!"

"I'll be right there" I promised. Having gone a few times, I knew where The Comedy Store was. The place was owned by Pauly Shore's mother.

Before I could ask again what the problem was, Frank hung up.

"Was that a client?" the reporter asked hopefully .

"A friend's got plumbing problems and now his kitchen's flooded" I lied.

"I'll go with you" Joey said.

"I'll be in touch" the reporter promised, and reluctantly left.

"Actually, Franks in some kinda trouble, and until I know what it is I'd rather handle it myself" I told her, feeling protective.

"Where is he?" she insisted.

"At the Comedy Store" I told her, while locking the office "Look, I can't help Frank if I have to worry about your safety."

"As sweet as your concern is" She began " What kind of trouble can a person get into at a comedy club?"

"I don't want to take any unnecessary risks."

"He didn't tell you what kind of trouble he was in?"

"He just hung up. Please let me handle this" With that plea, I started to leave , but she followed me.

"My car is better for transporting an injured person..." she said lamely.

"Joey..." I shook my head.

"I'll go there with or without you..." she warned.

"Fine..." I reluctantly agreed, regretting that I told her where I was going.

"Let's roll!" she smiled and soon we went to my car.

Most of the car ride was silent as I thought about various scenarios, and how to handle them. If Frank was high, maybe he pissed someone off...or maybe he saw or thought he saw something disturbing.

"Something tells me that it's not serious"Joey said, as I went on the freeway.

"I hope you're right" I remarked. Traffic was okay. Eventually, we arrived at the parking lot of the place. My headlights revealed Frank waving his arms frantically at us, as if my car were a ship, and he was trapped on a desert island. He had the body language of someone who was high ; sober people don't jump up and down _that _high or fast.

"He's tweaked!" Joey groaned. I quickly got out of the car.

"I got here as soon as I could. What's up?" I asked with annoyance.

"That creature is spying on me!!" he pointed to the corpse of a cat that was next to his car.

"It's a dead cat!" Joey crossed her arms.

"It's disguising itself as a dead cat!" he argued with agravation, as if what he just said should be obvious. "Can't you feel the evil vibes!!"

"It's kinda hard to since we haven't taken whatever your on!" Joey retorted.

"All I had were some drinks!" he insisted.

"Which you bought with a fake ID, right?" I asked.

"You gotta do something about that evil creature!!!" he demanded.

"Give me your keys..." I ordered.

He obeyed.

"Tell ya what, I'll take you home, and Joey will drive your car to my place, okay?"

"And the creature?"

"I'll call some friends at the evil creature unit" I said with a deadpan. "Let's go" He and I were going to have a very serious talk tomorrow.

During the car ride, he kept saying 'whoa..'. Dumb kid must have taken ectasy or something like that.

"Were you kicked out?" I asked.

"Yeah but yeah but... It's not my fault that comedian was a demon! I just wanted to warn everyone!"

We got to Cal Sci, and then to his dorm, which was on the second floor. Thankfully, his roomate wasn't home.

"This place...has changed somehow..." he commented when we got in.

"Why you don't watch some T.V?" I suggested, and turned it on. However, Frank ignored the TV, opened his window, leaned on it and cursed at something only he could see. Quickly, I pulled him back and closed the window.

"I'm gonna bite you!" he started to scream at something or someone near the TV and throw books around. I restrained him,and tried to calm the guy down. He struggled, but was no match for me.

"Easy...easy..." I said gently.

"I'm on fire!" he yelled. "And bugs are on my shirt." He tugged at it, so to humor him, I helped the kid take it off. Then, the kid decided that his pants had bugs too and they went off as well. This was not how I wanted to spent a free evening! By now, I should be watching TV, or better yet, showering with Joey! She looked much much better in underclothes, especially if they were skimpy. To my chagrin, the door opened.

It was a young woman redheaded woman"Frank??? What the hell is going on???"

"I can explain..." I said gently. Talk about awkward!

"Explain what? The kinky sex that I could hear from the hall???"

"Frank's high!" I told her. "He was at a comedy club, and called me."

"Frank would never take drugs!"

He warned her "Lisa! I've got bugs all over me!"

"Drop the act, asshole!" she got angrier, especially while looking around. "Is this what you like??? Throwing books around as foreplay??"

"It's not like that!" I said in my calmest voice.

"It's over Frank! You and your boyfriend can go to hell!!" She threw a heavy book at me, but missed. Then, the girl left. A part of me felt sorry for the guy, but the other part didn't. I mean, if he hadn't gotten high, the situation could have been avoided.

Before anyone else could just come in, I quickly locked the door, and prepared myself for a very agravating, tiring night.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up to loud, incessant groaning some hours later. I turned my head, only to see Frank rolling around like a large walrus.

"Frank must be crashing" I thought, but said. "Morning"

"uhhhhhhhhhggggggggg!" he groaned some more, looked at me, and did a double take. "Is that you, Don?"

"It's me..." I rolled my eyes and got up, sternly saying. "Do you remember what happened last night?"

"Uh...not really..."

"You called me high as a kite,..."

"no way!" he reluctantly took his head and shoulders out of the covers.

"Yes way...you claimed that monsters were out to get you and that one of the comedians was a demon" I continued with agravation.

"I just had too much to drink." he insisted. "And must have called you about that."

"Drunks don't say they see monsters"

"Someone must have spiked my drink then" he said, rubbing his head.

"Come on!" I said sharply. "Just face the facts, man! You were high on X,and started to hallucinate"

"I haven't even tried 'X'. The strongest stuff I take is vodka" he persisted, looking like hell. His hair was dishevled, the clothes on him were wrinkles, and he had circles around his eyes.

"Look, the important thing is that you got home safe" I changed the subject, still feeling disapointed at him. "And if I see you in that state at work, I will fire your ass. Look I gotta go. Take care" With that I left and went home.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"Don't be so hard on him, Don" Dad advised me when I told him about Frank at the house. I sat on the couch, while he was doing crossword puzzles on a chair. "I remember a certain twenty year old, who called me, as drunk as hell, to ask me to fly on a magic carpet, and plead to the King of the potatoe people for his freedom"

"Dad!" I sighed. "That was a crank call" Me and a bunch of friends were taking turns at crank calling our parents. It's one of those crazy things college kids think up late at night.

"You were drunk" he claimed, putting down the newspaper.

"Drunk? Come on! I was just tipsy!" I argued. Dad liked to exagerate sometimes.

"So you say" Dad shrugged doubtfully. Before we could argue some more, my cell rang. It was Joey.

"Morning! How did it go?" she asked.

"I fell asleep, and he was crashing when I woke up." I told her. "And he denied taking anything"

" Really?"

"Yeah..."

We chatted a bit more, but then Joey had an appointment with the parents of a baby, who died of SIDS.

"How's Joey's doin'?" Dad asked me when I hung up my cell.

"Good...she had an appointment" I didn't want to bring him down by getting into details. Despite my long years in law enforcement, dead, exploited, or injured kids still affected me.

"At least your new line of work allows for a more flexible schedule" Dad smiled.

"I find it easier to make time for relationships." I said. It also helped that my cases didn't consume me emotionally anymore, or take my brain to a bad neighborhood. It's hard to be in a relationship in that state.

"I can see that" he said. "Why don't we have lunch?"

"Sure" I agreed happily.

Dad got up and went to the kitchen.

Being my own boss definitely did have its advantages.

TBC

_a/n sorry this chapter is kinda short, but I promise the next one will be longer and have more case related stuff._


	8. Chapter 8

After lunch, I went to take out money at an ATM. Noticing that I had more in my account than I expected, I went to my office, and checked my account online. To my chagrin, I found out that Charlie hadn't cashed the checks I had sent him to pay off my debt. Annoyed, I went to Cal Sci to see him. He wrote on the chalkboard, as I came in.

"Don..." he looked sheepish. "I'm sorry...I uh...have made any progress on the case...it's just that..."

"I'm here about something else"

"What?" he stopped writing.

"I noticed that you haven't been cashing the checks."

"I've been busy..." he said nervously, and started again to write, but quicker."But I uh...will cash them...not at the same time of course..."

"You had no plans to cash them did you?" I felt aggravated.

"I uh...did.." he didn't sound very convincing.

Megan's entrance interrupted our argument.

"Hey Don!" she looked at both of us curiously and said. "How's the case?"

"All right" I replied.

"I talked to Walker about it." she told me. Walker was a police lieutenant who I worked with, as he was the head of a gang unit for the LAPD.

"Oh yeah? Thanks!" I said. "What did he say?"

"That he'd look into it for you." she sounded optimistic. "He thinks maybe that it could be some new initiation rite or something. I gave him your new numbers and the address to your office."

"Okay...so uh...you're here about your own case?" I asked her.

She told me about it. Sadly, it involved a pervert who raped and killed teenagers. Megan hoped that Charlie might be able to predict the next attack. I worried about how such a case would affect my brother.

He listened somberly and did some brainstorming aloud, but as usual, asked for data. I asked Megan what angles she was pursuing. She told me and I, out of habit, made some suggestions. After a while, I left.

------------------------------------------------

A few days later, as I did some undercover work on this site called 'Second Life' for a married man, who thought his wife had cybersex there, Frank came into my office gingerly. Things were still kinda icy between us.

"Uh...A Lieutenant Walker is here." he said.

"Tell him I'll be a minute." I said.

"Okay" Frank nodded and left the office. Quickly, I got out of second life, and went to greet Walker.

"Looks like you're doing quite well for yourself, Eppes" he told me with a grin. He was in his uniform.

"You could say that" I smiled back. "Thanks for coming"

"Don't mention it..."

"Let's talk in my office?" I offered, and gave Frank my 'get back to work' look. Soon, we were inside.

"This makes my boss' office look shabby!" Walker joked when we entered my office, and he sat on the visitors' chair and I settled myself on mine.

"What have ya got?" I asked.

"A gang" he said.

"yeah?" I sat up.

"It's made up of former low ranking members from the more well known ones, and the tagging you describe is one of the initiation rites" he said.

"Huh...what are the others?"

"We don't know yet...they're secretive, but it could be the usual, rape, jumping a cop, murder..." he said. "I got you some files, on possible members." he gave me some manila envelopes. "Watching them isn't top priority for my unit, as we're mostly dealing with the more dangerous gangsters"

I read through them carefully, asking Walker some questions.

"Who's doing the recruiting?"

"We're not quite sure on that,but must be someone powerful and with lotsa charisma."

"Yeah...usually, it's kinda hard getting out of a gang, once you join..." I mused.

We talked a bit more, but soon he had to attend a briefing.

When he left, Frank asked. "What did he want?"

I admitted "He had some information...turns out that we're looking at the work of a new gang."

"Maybe I could infiltrate it?" he suggested eagerly.

"What? no! Going undercover is not a game!" I said firmly. Infiltrating organized crime was very risky, even for those with training and experience . I sure as hell wasn't gonna risk a young kid's life.

"Okay..." he looked disappointed. "How else are you gonna find out about it?"

"Why don't you worry about your work?" I retorted. With a groan, he returned to it and I went back to my office.

Before I could do much thinking about the new leads, Frank came in again, to tell me that we had another visitor.

"It's a secret service agent!" he said excitedly. "Agent Hall. Do you think maybe on of our clients counterfeited money?"

Taking a deep breath, I told him. "Have her come in."

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Before I knew it, she had entered my office. It hadn't been until recently, that I could forgive her for breaking off our engagement and not coming with me to L.A. We both said pretty mean things to each other during our last fights, but I'm over her. Never again will I lament what could have been.

"You've got yourself quite a setup here" she remarked with her polite smile, but I knew that Kim kind of felt sorry for me. She wore a pantsuit, and had her hair loose.

."Thanks...this office has a better view than the last one I had in New Mexico "I pointed to the window. I had been in charge of a field office there.

"I think you've got a better view than Merrick!" she joked.

"Congrats on your new husband and kid!" I told her.

"Thanks..." she smiled nervously.

"What can I do for ya?"

Kim needed information on some married woman that I had tailed. Turns out that her boyfriend was in some counterfeiting scheme and the cheating wife, who had recently divorced the husband, might have been involved.

"They mostly did couple stuff when I tailed them." I explained while giving her the file, which had a copy of the report. We kept things very businesslike. " I noticed some pity on her face while she read the file. It was the 'it's horrible that you've been reduced to doing this' look.

"Your investigative style hasn't changed" she teased. Kim asked me a few more questions, excused herself, and left.

After a few minutes, Frank eagerly came to my office to ask me "Who counterfeited?"

"The wife of a client and her boyfriend." I said.

"Which one?"

"Kenny Peterson"

"Is that the case where you had pictures of the tail and her boyfriend going to a bondage shop?" he asked with a laugh.

"Yeah..." I shrugged.

He went back to work ,and I returned to Second Life.

----------------------------------------------------------------

After a while, a new client came in, wearing a very expensive looking suit, and what seemed to be leather shoes. My business side, growing more each day, leaped with joy. A better off client could be charged by the hour a little more easily. Don't get me wrong, I love investigating, but Uncle Sam no longer provided me with office Space, gas milage, and help.

He got right down to business.

"I need you to tail and investigate someone." he began.

"Who?"

"A consultant I hired for a building project in Santa Monica. His name is Alan Eppes."

"I'm afraid I can't help you" I told him neutrally, though what his bothered me. Dad was very honest, and great at what he did. "Alan Eppes is my father."

"No kidding! I thought that it was a coincidence that you had the same last name." he shrugged, quickly got up, but I intercepted him.

"Why did you want to tail my Dad?" I asked. Seeing his reluctance, I said, "Look, the cat's outta the bag, just tell me"

Sheepishly, he admitted, "The night after he gave me an estimate, I had a nightmare about him!"

TBC

_Next Chapter: Hear all about the client's nightmare, and some progress on the case._


	10. Chapter 10

"What kind of nightmare?" I asked the prospective client.

"in the nightmare, the consultant, or rather, your father ran after me with a chain saw!"

"Look, it was just a nightmare, there is no reason to worry" I tried to assure the man.

"I don't know..."

I talked to him some more, and he calmed down enough to promise me not to send someone to follow my Dad. I would, however, still tell my dad to keep a watch out.

243242342442342

That night, as I watched TV with my Dad, Frank called me.

"I've solved the vandalism cases!" he exclaimed.

"huh?"

"I was cruising the web, and saw a website for a guerrilla artist group called The Buffalo Soldiers. They do exactly that same coding thing we saw on those two cars!"

"What's the address of the website?" I asked. He gave it to me and I looked it up. The introduction to the site had the usual anti corporate, anti government, anti establishment rhetoric, and used coded art to raise awareness and challenge 'societal aesthetics". Now I had something to go on.

I did some more reading, apparently, anyone with a nice car, or job could be a victim.

"At least I've got a culprit" I thought. With that, I wrote some notes, for Frank to write in the reports to the vandalism victims.

"You got a lead?" Dad asked.

"yeah" I grunted.

"for which case?"

"The vandalism" I wrote my notes

"How?"

"Frank found the website of some fringe group with the same M.O."

"I hope give you him extra money for his effort" Dad warned.

I groaned.

"He solved the case for you!" Dad argued.

I sighed. "I'll think about it."

"Now what?"

"I'll give the clients the information, and they'll take it up with the cops. I'm done"

"That was quick"

I grunted in agreement.

"What about the whole gang thing that you were looking into? Dad asked.

"Red herring" I shrugged.

"Oh...."

* * *

After some thinking, I gave Frank a bonus of 100 dollars in case at the office the next morning. His wide grin was all the gratitude I needed.

"Spend it wisely!" I warned.

"okay"

Just then, the phone rang,

"You know what to do." I nodded towards it, and he answered.

Then End.

Note: Thank you all for reading and for your patience! My muse is very fickle, and case fics are not my forte. There may be sequel, so keep a look out! :) I hope you enjoyed this story! Feel free to review, or tell me what you would like to see in a sequel, if there were to be one.


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